Sunday, August 26, 2012

Baptism Coming Up!

August 26, 2012

            Well hello from the wonderful area of...Kariya! Haha, I am here for the night because I dropped off B-ski in Nagoya. Let me start off with that story, it was the bomb coming down. We got to the train station in Matsumoto and realized we missed the train, so Nancy and her son and Karen were gonna take us to the next transfer station in the car. We got close and the son turns around to Nancy and says, 'let's go to Nagoya'!  Hahaha, so we rode the whole way down with them in the car. It was WAY fun hahaha. And my new companion is Elder Kusume! He is a way cool guy, he is a Japanese elder from Tokyo. He is actually coming from being companions with Elder Ashcroft. I have met him a bunch and he is a really cool guy. But as your week was, mine was very busy and crazy too.

            I'll start off with Miki.  We taught her a bunch this week. And Roberto took us to an ashiyu (a Japanese public bath where people can soak their feet) with her too. All the lessons were super good. After the 10 Commandment lesson, I felt the power of the Spirit so strong, we invited her to be baptized on September 23 and she accepted!!!  I'm so excited for her. She still needs a testimony about Prophets, but she is lookin' pretty solid. I'm way excited for her.

            So I had a fun exchange this week. I felt like the theme of this week was 'Let's cancel all the appointments on the elders'.  And people did a really good job with it too. Haha, we were able to still do a good amount. B-ski was super trunky, and wasn't at all like Jessop. It was kinda tough, but I'm happy to be moving onto a new transfer.

             Miki actually came to the District meeting and had a way good experience. She was crying at the end of the demonstration. Then after we went with the Filipina member and got the Halo Halo again. It wasn't as fun as before, but it was still the bomb. They took us out and got some Brazilian food. Can't complain.

            Two cool experiences. I was talking to a member and he said he served in Sendai so many years ago and I asked him if he knew Frank Lemon.  He said he still talks to him on Facebook a lot. He asked if I knew Ben! It was way cool, he got so happy. I showed him some pictures. Then the next day, I was translating for an American member and we got off topic and she told me about her cousin at BYU and I figured out she was in my FHE family at school and her roommate was Sara! This world is too small. It was really cool though. I loved having these cool experiences.

            Finally, by bike got destroyed, going up a hill like the whole gear section broke off. I had to walk everywhere that day and it was not a cool day. I have to ride one of those mamacharis (little girl bike) I had in Kasugai for like two weeks. WOO!  So that's exciting. That was my exciting week. I'm really excited for this next transfer. Elder Kusume actually goes home in two transfer, so yes that means three in a row. Haha I love you all a ton. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shortboob

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Li is Back

August 19, 2012

            Nancy JUST called and was excited to see a note from you on Facebook. I made that last week for her and she is addicted to it. She has called us several times this week telling us that she barely got any sleep because she was messaging people all, haha it's super funny. I'm glad you two are friends now though, she was pretty excited. That's so cool Jake is down at BYU now! Tell him to look under the desk! I marked my territory under the desk, I think he will appreciate it.

            So this week was an interesting one that ended way good. Li came back from China! I was so excited to see her. She had a tough time in China and coming back. She had felt a bit depressed and we just tried to help her in the lesson. She came out of it super happy and asking us when we can meet again. She also asked if there are places in China to take the sacrament. Hopefully after a few more weeks, she will want to get baptized! Speaking of that, we invited Miki to be baptized this week. She said she definitely would, she just doesn't know a date. So that was good.

            Hit my year mark in Japan on Thursday! Celebrated good, Nancy made us a bunch of Mexican food. Man it was so good. She can cook some slammin' food. We set a goal date for her to go to the temple and get her temple recommend! I hope I'm still here for all of that. I'm so excited!

            We had a Zone Training Meeting. It was a lot of fun. I had to teach most of it. It didn't go as planned, like the APs coming. They had a super stressful week. There were two emergency transfers because a missionary got up in the night, packed up, and got on a plane home. Then he ran away with his girlfriend. Crazy stuff. Then another Elder went home. I have a lot more respect for people in the mission home. I bet it is super stressful.

            There were some bad thunder and lightning storms this week. A couple of them kept us in the apartment. It got really bad though.

             Best part of the week, yesterday we got kidnapped by Roberto. At church he told us to go home and change and he would pick us up. He took us and a bunch of members to a park and had a huge Brazilian BBQ. SOOOO GOOOD! It was way fun just being with them all. Then after everyone left, he turned to me and said, 'let's go to the mountains' so he took us to a hiking trail that overlooked all of Matsumoto. It was so cool! It was way fun. It was pitch black coming down and I think some animals were chasing us. It was quite the adventure.


            This was a good week. Thanks for the package! I gave Nancy some of the Sprees and she was going crazy. She and Karen wanna go out for dinner when you come to pick me up. Then Roberto wants to kidnap all of us and take us to a mountain. I for sure wanna come here. Life is good, God is good. I love you all!

Elder 'Da Bomb' Parry

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Good Thing I Didn't Go To Brazil

August 12, 2012

If it is possible, I would like to stop in Hong Kong and see Grandma and Grandpa for a few days on the way home. We can take out a few days here in Japan to go see them. B-Ski isn't too excited to go home. We are just working together and trying to do our best. It's been a really fun transfer. First off, I got the letter about the family trip. Sounds like it was way fun! I LOVED Jake's goatee. It looks legit, I miss having one. I heard you have to promise to stay clean shaven when we go home. That is a promise that I honestly don't think I can keep.

This week was fun. I got to go on an exchange with Elder Ellsworth! It was way fun. We got Indo-curry, visited Nancy, did some housing, and visited a Filipina less-active. It was way fun, I love Elder Ellsworth.
We met with that investigator that found us five times this past week. She is doing super well. She came to church yesterday and had a way good time. We have talked to her a lot about baptism and she has a very good chance of getting baptized within these next two weeks. It's way awesome to finally see an investigator like this after such a long time.

We had Zone Conference in Nagoya on Friday, so we went and stayed in Gokiso the night before. Elder Hiruta is there. It was way fun, and a lot hotter than up here. We wrestled for about an hour and a half. The Zone Conference was pretty good. The mission home people were pretty stressed out and a little on edge, so it was a little bit tough, but it was still really good. We had to give a training and I thought it went really well. We taught how to have better morning studies and planning ahead of time. It went really well. We got to go down to Nagoya and come back with our whole zone.  I love our little zone.

We had a young single adults activity at the church where we made these picture frames, then our Brazilian member had a BBQ. I love Brazilian cooked meat. It was so good. He didn't get to eat that much because he was cooking, so he went and got more and invited us to come and have some more after haha. It was way good again. Good thing I didn't go to Brazil on my mission, I would just get bigger and bigger.

This week was good, a lot of unexpected stresses, but that's the mission. It was a fun week altogether! I love you all. Just so you know, I am on my last vile of drops. Good luck to everyone startin' up sports and gettin' ready for school!

Elder ShortBoob

Sunday, August 5, 2012

MTC Group Reunited

August 5, 2012

Sam isn't playing football?! That surprised me. It's OK, Ill be back for the next time he steps onto the field. Sounds like you guys had a great time, I'm super jealous. I wouldv'e liked a few ball games here and there. It's OK though. I'm really happy for all of you though.

This was a good week in the books. We had quite the day on Tuesday. Elder DeMille and I went on an exchange and it was a full day of service. We did our usual service at the hospital and picked up cigarette butts. Then we went to Nancy's and weeded her yard. It took ALL day. It was way fun. She grilled us some guacamole burgers after and had a mini BBQ. I had a watermelon fight with Karen. It was a way fun day.

The next day was adventurous, trains only come like once an hour here. It's a huge pain. We accidentally got on the wrong one and went north on an express. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Haha, then we finally made it back like 10 minutes before Eikaiwa.

We had Leadership Training in Nagoya! We had five people at our apartment the night before then we all went down together. It was pretty fun. The training was the best! Everyone was super laid back and I just loved it! Everyone from my MTC group was there together for the first time since we came to Japan. Then we had Zone Leader Council after and everyone was super funny and laid back there too. It was the best training I have been to since coming to Japan. It got out over an hour late, so we went to dinner with Hiruta and his companion, then we stayed in Toyota for the night. It was way fun.

Guess what? I got letters from Ito Kan and Mariko!!! Those I baptized in Kasugai. I was SOOOO happy! She loved meeting Dad and they said they would love to meet us again. Kan is preparing to serve a mission! So happy.



We went to the Matsumoto Bon Bon on Saturday. It was way cool. There were thousands and thousands of people getting drunk and dancing in the streets. It was pretty fun. We went with two less actives and I think it was really good for them.

Cool story to end this, we were randomly at the church and the phone rang. This woman lived in LA for 6 years, speaks perfect English, and wants to learn about Christianity! It was way cool. We met her yesterday and she is prepared! She has no job and can meet all the time. I'm super stoked for what could happen with this. God is good.

I love you all, things are good up in here! I love it here, hit the 14 month mark last week. I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU LOVE ME!

Elder Parry